


Escaping the Airship

by VenomQuill



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Anyway this isn't canon to anything I've written before, But it's in the same style as Off the Beaten Path, Gen, Really all characters but Henry don't have that many lines or too much significance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: Henry Stickmin was an eleven-year-old orphan adopted by the Toppat Clan--more specifically Reginald Copperbottom (Chief Terrence's Right Hand) and Red (The Third in Line). It was nice, learning how to be a thief and living in a place that accepted and loved him. Chief Terrence had always been reckless, a thrill-seeker. In one timeline, it turned around and bit him when Reginald overthrew him. But luck isn't always on their side...
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Fight or Flight

Henry waved goodbye to Howie as the teenager, now done with his morning chores, ran off to find his mentor and father. Henry watched as rain tapped the reinforced glass window in the side of the airship. The forest waved close below, trees shivering in the wind. Henry bit back a yawn and shook his head. Stupid rain. Always making him sleepy. Thankfully, the clouds weren’t really dark, but rather a fluffy gray blanket laying atop them, blocking the sun and bright blue sky above. Weirdly, the ship was close to the ground. It wasn’t close enough to break the trees. Rather, it was just a few stories higher than the waving flora.

Confused, Henry walked out of the cafeteria and made his way to the Bridge. He’d just gotten halfway through the Living Quarters when an alarm, loud and long, shattered the semi-silence. Henry bristled and bolted back to his room as the alarm blared again. He wasted no time in grabbing a spare blanket from his closet and diving under the bed. Sure, it didn’t work the first time, but it would this time, right?

Footsteps thundered past his room. Voices yelled over the action. Gradually, the noise began to fall away. Henry coiled his fingers tighter into fists, disturbing the diamond ring on his finger. Still, as silence fell over the corridor, fear gripped his heart. He recognized this silence. Everyone was in some different part of the ship. That meant that a bad guy could walk through the Living Quarters with no problem. But what happened in the Bridge…

Henry shook his head and crawled out from under the bed. No. The Bridge was just an accident, it wouldn’t happen again. Chief Terrence learned his lesson the _first_ time. Henry did, too.

Henry opened his door and bolted down the hallway. He looked back, finding nothing but a vacant hallway with magnetic doors ready to slam shut on command. It took two tries to get into the Warehouse which, again, had no one. Henry could hardly breath through his wheezing panting by the time he made it to the Bridge. Shivering, muscles burning, and hardly able to breathe, Henry needed four tries to get through the door. When he got there, the Bridge was… empty. Where was the chief? Reginald? Red? Shouldn’t at least _one_ of them be here to steer the ship? Well, Red was very rarely seen apart from Reginald save for quiet times when they had jobs in separate areas of the airship. But it wasn’t quiet.

Henry stopped by the control panel. Chief Terrence had taught him a little bit about flying when he wanted to spend time with Henry and Reginald and Red had been busy investigating a botched heist that would be “too scary” for Henry to be around. But he’d hardly gotten the grasp on any concept of flight and so he didn’t trust himself. Rather, he walked down the ramp and went to the window. The cubbies below Thomas’ and Oldmin’s stations were open and missing a few firearms. Henry cursed himself. He should’ve brought his BB.

Above, dark clouds loomed, sparks of lightning cracking high and threatening. Below, the rain-sodden forest creaked and threw shadows across a rather large military base. Were they… _flying_ _over that?_ At least when those Wall guards had gotten into the ship they were hardly near any places of civilization, much less a military base or camp. From his vantagepoint--he had to stand on his tip-toes because the metal ring around the gargantuan windshield reached his upper chest--he could see the tail end of a swarm of helicopters leaving the base.

Henry yelped and staggered as the airship shuddered from a blast. Was it the helicopters or the _actual SAM turrets?_ Charles had said a thing or two about how his mother and father both kept a constant look-out for SAM turrets despite only his mother being a pilot. Reginald explained to him most of the dangers, though.

Henry winced and gripped the metal lip of the windshield tight as another blast hit the ship.

The door behind him opened.

Henry spun around. There! There was Reginald and Red. Was that Thomas with them? Reginald yelled, “Henry, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Henry bolted from his place to meet them near the pilot’s seat. “ _I thought they’d get me in my room,_ ” he signed, his hands shaking too much to make a whole lot of sense.

Reginald let out a frustrated hiss. “Henry you’d be--Thomas, take him to a saferoom and come back!”

“Yes, sir! Come on, Henry!” Thomas ran to the door again, looking back long enough to make sure Henry was following. Henry, throwing one last glance at his parents, followed. Thomas, gripping his rifle tight, constantly looked back to make sure the exhausted boy was following. He made no comment on Henry’s pace, but Henry wouldn’t disbelieve him being impatient. After all, there was bad stuff going on, and Thomas had been with them for a reason.

They stopped in the middle of a hallway and Thomas held up his lanyard. A light glowed from the top of the wall and turned green and then shut off. Part of the wall sunk in and parted to show a decently sized room. Thomas ushered Henry in with a “Stay here and don’t move until we come back!” before shutting the door.

Henry looked around the semi-familiar room. He’d been stuck here in another attack. Reginald had guided him here first, though. But Reginald was going to steer the ship away and then they’d be okay. So, Henry went to inspecting his surroundings. Medical beds to one side, chairs lining another wall, and three cabinets occupying the space. One was filled with medical supplies and stayed near the bed, while two had bottles of water and cans of food and some supplies to open and hold said food.

Henry sat in one of the chairs. Footsteps rushed past the door. They didn’t stop or falter. The saferoom was very safe, he’d been told. He could stay here for months and be perfectly okay. With a keypad on the inside, and a command to open if the power went out, he wouldn’t get stuck, either.

…

Well, this was taking an awful lot of time.

Nervous, Henry took out the Gameboy stuffed in his pocket--he wasn’t slacking in his chores, he just got bored waiting for Howie to arrive so they could start together--and fiddled with it. The fear and paranoia wiggling inside him like angry snakes really put a damper on his desire to play a game. So, he put it away.

…

…

…

It was quiet, now. Curiosity urged Henry to just take a peek outside, but fear squashed it. What if the bad guys were in that hall and Henry just showed them where he was? No. He needed to wait for Reginald or Red or Thomas or someone to open the door and bring him out.

The airship lurched, throwing Henry off of his seat. He quickly got back onto it, clutching the chair tight. There was another explosion--closer this time--and the horrid scream of metal wrenching itself out of place. Henry clapped his hands over his ears, but the noise was persistent. That was, until it came to a sudden stop.

Henry slowly removed his hands from his ears and looked around. He got to his feet and made his way to the door. A _hiss_ met his ears, so quiet he could barely hear it. Crackling, hissing, and spitting. Was that… a fire?

Henry backed away from the wall. The noise was gone to him instantly. But that was fine, right? This was fine. Metal wasn’t comb… comb--something. It couldn’t be lit on fire. He was okay. They’d put the fire out eventually and then someone would come for him. Yep. All he needed to do was be patient.

Henry took a few deep breaths and went to the cabinet with water. The water bottles in there were _huge!_ Which was a good thing, right? Yeah. He grabbed one, shut the cabinet, and went back to his seat to drink it. He couldn’t drink much before he felt sick. So, he wouldn’t be eating anything anytime soon.

…

Henry set his water bottle down and took out his Gameboy. They’d come for him. He just needed to take his mind off things. Being scared wouldn’t do anyone any good. He should turn his volume off, though. Just in case.

Footsteps trod through the hallway--determined, heavy, and at a steady pace. They didn’t stop.

…

Okay, this was taking _way too long._ Where were they? Wasn’t someone supposed to come and help him? A few people passed by. Didn’t they tell anyone Henry was in here? Shouldn’t they be helping them? Or maybe Reginald wanted to find him and bring him out himself. That would sort of make sense. Anyway, he shouldn’t worry too much.

Henry’s Gameboy eventually started to die. So, he took the charger from his pocket--Howie sometimes took quite a lot of time to leave his father and help clean the cafeteria--and took another drink of water. Henry got up and walked to the cabinet full of canned food. They wouldn’t be mad if he took one, right? They’d understand he didn’t have lunch and he was hungry, now.

Henry took a can of corn and sat down on his chair again.

Was it just him or was this taking a _long_ time? They didn’t forget about him, did they? No. They couldn’t. Even if they forgot, Henry was always with them for dinner. Yeah. Maybe they thought Thomas would get him. Then they’d get mad at Thomas and he would find Henry.

Henry perked up upon hearing footsteps, but they were gone, too. He half-considered opening the door himself. But Reginald said that he should never open the door himself if something really bad was happening. Frankly, the only reason Henry would be in here in the first place was if something really bad was happening. So that’s probably why Reginald never taught him the password to leave. Henry looked at his empty can of corn. He’d poured some water in it and swirled it around a little so he could drink the leftover syrup and few bits of corn left. It was completely empty. Not even a hint of flavor was left, anymore. So, Henry set it down in front of the cabinet.

He unplugged his fully charged Gameboy.

Okay, this was ridiculous. It was time for dinner, wasn’t it? Where _were_ they? Shouldn’t _someone_ be here by now?

Henry walked up to the door and pressed a few buttons on the keypad. If they weren’t going to find him themselves, Henry would leave on his own. Then he’d need to find them and yell at them. He wasn’t supposed to do that--he’d learned very well not to talk back or yell or hit by Mrs. Bloodworth and the ladies and teachers--but he would. Well, in a way they’d understand that didn’t have to do with actual talking, because he couldn’t do that. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t do that.

The keypad glowed an angry red each time he failed the button pressing. Even with all these safety measures, they needed a _password?_ Why? What if someone--Henry--became trapped?

Henry puffed and walked to the door. Whatever. They’d find him and _then_ he’d tell them off. He pressed his ear to the door. The fire was gone. That’s probably why the footsteps had been there. That was good. Speaking of footsteps, another few pairs walked down the hall. Henry perked up and stood back. They didn’t stop. Henry grumbled to himself and walked to the far wall. Far above him was a ventilation shaft, probably to make sure he didn’t suffocate. It was too high to reach from here. However, if Henry could somehow move one of the cabinets closer, he could climb onto a chair, hop up onto the cabinet, and then open the ventilation shaft. If they came back and opened the door and he wasn’t there, well, tough. They could get spooked for all he cared. Might teach them not to abandon him.

Henry squirmed into the small space between the food and water cabinets. When he tried pushing with his arms, the cabinet didn’t yield. Too heavy. Ugh, stupid! Take the water bottles out, first! Let _them_ reorganize it.

So, Henry spent quite a bit of time pulling out and discarding the water bottles. In fact, he took so much time and effort that he got tired. Also, he really needed to go to the bathroom. Huh. There _was_ a bathroom--a really small one. Didn’t have a mirror or shower or anything but a toilet and sink. How long did they expect people to stay in here? Months? Was Reginald being serious when he said this place could last for months? Why would he need to do that?

Regardless, Henry went to the bathroom and then climbed onto one of the medical beds. Not as comfortable as his regular bed, sure, but he could sleep on it.

Nothing.

Henry cleaned out the rest of the water bottles and ate a big can of beans. It had to be morning by now. At the very least Howie would be concerned. Where _were_ they?

Henry squirmed between the food cabinet and empty water cabinet and pushed near the bottom with his hands and feet with all his might. The cabinet slowly scraped its way a few inches. The more room Henry had, the more effort he could put into it. Finally, when Henry reached the end of his abilities, he found the cabinet below the ventilation shaft.

Henry let out a wheezy laugh. Finally! He finished off his water bottle and dragged one of the chairs up to the cabinet. Hmm. Too tall. Well, the medical beds were taller. When he dragged one of them over, the top was still out of reach. Henry grumbled and looked around. There weren’t any other things higher up. Henry looked at the chairs and beds and lit up. Oh! The chair and bed together would probably be _just_ high enough for him to use!

Henry grabbed a chair and dragged it onto the bed. Yep! The chair was a little precarious as it shifted when he put weight on it. However, it could still hold his weight. So, up and onto the cabinet did he climb. He broke off the vent’s cover--not his fault, he was escaping because they forgot about him--and crawled inside. He’d never been to this vent before. But if he kept moving, he’d probably figure out where he was.

Eventually, after a few left and right turns, he found a vent with an arrow drawn onto it. Yes! This would take him to his room! It also went over a few rooms so he could see what was going on. Heh. Maybe he could drop down and scare them! Serves them right.

Henry found the first open place covered by a grate and looked down. This was the Boardroom. Shouldn’t someone be…? Oh! There they were! He heard a few people talking, though he didn’t recognize the voices. That was to be expected, though. He couldn’t remember _all_ the voices from everyone.

Wait.

Henry narrowed his eyes and stuck his face against the grate. What were they saying…? They wore hats, yeah, but they were identical and green and definitely _not_ top hats.

Oh.

Oh _no._

Did… did the government bring down the airship? Was that why no one came back for him? Because the government didn’t know where the saferooms were? Or if the saferooms even existed?

Henry quietly continued his mission. He finally stopped once he got to a vent in his room. Silence met him. Did they get out in time? Were they just not able to come back for him? Did they think he’d get himself out? Did they expect to come back, knowing Henry had months of supplies left for himself? Or did they get arrested and weren’t able to tell anyone where he was?

Or did they…?

No. They wouldn’t ever abandon him. Never. Absolutely not.

Henry crawled out of the vent to his room. He emptied out his school backpack, grabbed his smaller bag of treasures, and neatly folded a few pairs of clothes into his backpack. He needed room in there, after all.

Henry looked around some more and investigated Howie’s side of the room. He hid a rather large knife under his pillow and a pistol was strapped under the bed, out of sight of someone just glancing under there but easy enough to grab that he could defend himself. Maybe he was planning on someone going into their room to kidnap them?

Regardless, Henry pushed the weapons into his backpack. Clothes, weapons, treasure, the money stashes Howie hid around the room… okay. All he needed was food and water. Then he could escape the airship and look for his family. Yeah.

Henry threw on the backpack and bag and made his way into the vents. It took a while, but he managed to find the saferoom. Nothing--not even his Gameboy or the door to the bathroom--had been touched.

Henry’s backpack became much heavier with the food, water, can opener, spoon, and electronic device. Still, he could hold it. He could carry this stuff wherever he needed to go.

There were not vents that led directly outside. That was fine. Most of the escape pods weren’t working. That wasn’t fine. Still, a few worked.

…where would he go?

Henry climbed into an escape pod in one of the quieter parts of the airship. He set down his backpack and bag of treasure.

He could go to his school. Then the people there could call his home. But if his parents were on the run, they wouldn’t answer. Then they’d toss Henry to CPS or something and he wouldn’t be able to look for them himself. He could go to their “house” in Las Vegas. But, again, if they ran from the government, they wouldn’t just go back to their house and be sitting ducks. Henry had heard of different Toppat bases on the ground. Maybe he could find one of those.

Henry poked around at the interface until he found a random base. This one was in… Alaska? Ugh, the weather would be awful there. But it wasn’t like he hadn’t been in the cold before. Henry unconsciously trailed his fingers over a few others.

Still, Henry selected that and then buckled himself in. The escape pod took off. Henry looked out the window. Vehicles clustered around the place. Although a helicopter started to take off, the escape pod was faster and soon enough, Henry could hardly see the red reaching above the trees.

Henry sat, waiting for the pod to slow and land by the little base. It would be a while, this Henry knew, since they had been in some place warm and full of trees. At least it wasn’t raining. A few sunrays barely peaked through the overcast clouds. But it wasn’t raining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fend for yourself dinner tonight, folks.
> 
> Anyhow, this isn't canon to "Off the Beaten Path" but this idea popped into my head. I couldn't put it anywhere without demolishing the plot, (though, now that I think about it...) so here it is as a two-chapter one-shot. Two-shot? I tried to be vague because technically there are elements that go with the fic itself. So some things might not make the greatest of sense. Apologies for that. But the idea came to me suddenly and I just needed to write it.
> 
> Also: it's snowing outside. >:(


	2. Swim

Henry jolted out of his half-sleep as the pod landed.

Henry unbuckled himself, grabbed his things, and left the pod. He winced at the cold but kept moving. Ahead of him was a bunker, small and quaint. A couple of armed Toppats--one with a fuzzy navy-blue hat and the other with a fuzzy maroon cap left the building to investigate. They relaxed a little upon seeing Henry, but not all the way.

“Kid?” asked the one on the left with the blue hat.

Henry stopped and signed, “ _I am from the airship._ ”

The two looked at each other. The maroon-cap-one said, “I don’t understand?”

The blue-hat-one said, “The kid’s wearing short sleeves. Come on, let’s get inside.”

Henry, shivering, followed close to heel as the two led him into the bunker-esc building. The attention they gained was immediate as a Toppat with a green hat saw them. “Icepick? Snowcap? What are you doing inside?”

The blue hat one gestured to Henry. “Found a kid outside. Came out of a red pod?”

The maroon hat one said, “Yeah. Since he knew where we were, he’s probably from the airship.”

The green one groaned. “You mean the Airship Division? That got taken down yesterday? Kid could be a government spy, if he was from the airship!”

The fuzzy hatted ones looked from the green hat one to Henry, who shrunk away from their suddenly suspicious gaze. The green hat one asked, “Where did you come from, Kid?”

Henry signed, “ _The airship._ ”

“Can you talk?”

Henry shook his head.

“Icepick, have any paper on you?”

The blue-hat-one dug into his pockets and brought out a paper and pen. Ink from the face of the paper bled a little into the back, but not enough to make a noticeable mark. “Here, kid.”

Henry took the paper and sat on the ground so he could write on it. “My name is Henry. I’m from the airship division. My dads are Reginald and Red, the right hand and third in line for Chief Terrence. The ship flew over a government base and got shut down. But I don’t know who got caught because I was stuck in a saferoom.”

The green hat one picked up the paper once it was offered and narrowed his eyes. “Huh. Henry. You’re talking about _Chief_ Reginald and Right Hand Man? They claimed Terrence got arrested, along with quite a few others.”

Henry reached for the paper. When it was given to him, he wrote, “Where are they?”

The green hat one answered, “They met up with the ground division. Icepick, Snowcap? Watch the kid. I’m going to verify this.” With that, he was gone.

The red-hat-one--he had to be Snowcap if the other was Icepick--said, “Alright, kiddo. How about we sit down for a while. What’s in the pack?”

Henry got up and opened the zipper to show off the bottles of water and cans of food. He zipped it closed and pulled out Howie’s knife. He put it away fairly quickly.

“Huh. You’re set for a very long time.”

Henry nodded.

“Welp. It’s probably going to take Stanley a while to get through communications. How about you tell us what happened?”

Icepick said as they sat down in the front area, “The kid just said he couldn’t talk.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, kid. Uuuuuh… yeah! Here.” Snowcap took out a notepad and pencil and handed it to Henry. When Henry took the supplies, Snowcap repeated the question.

Uuuuugh, why couldn’t they just talk to someone who knew ASL? Writing was _so slow_.

Stanley speed-walked back into the front room. “Okay, Icepick, Snowcap?”

The three looked up at him.

“Chief says he wants the boy brought out to the Arizona desert base immediately.”

The two got up before Stanley could finish his sentence. “Right away,” Icepick claimed. “Uh, who’s going?”

“You two talked to the kid a little, right? I’ll get someone to replace you outside. Take him out to the desert base. Quickly, if you can. Take the ship out back and bring the jeep.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Icepick said, walking back to the door.

“Wait!” Snowcap called. “Kid needs a coat, doesn’t he?”

Stanley nodded. “Yes. Go grab a coat. I’ll get the new guards.”

Henry waited by the door, a small shiver running through his body at the cold that leaked through the edges of the doorjamb. Thankfully, he had warmed up quite a bit inside and Snowcap was back fairly quickly with a nice thick parka and gloves.

Icepick asked as they made their way around the building, “Sure you need all that, kid?”

Henry nodded, fixing the backpack on his shoulders.

“Alright. Never know, right?”

Henry nodded.

Henry… didn’t like boats. They took a jeep from a small garage to the shore and loaded it up onto a boat. Henry stayed inside the little cabin or whatever it was called. They had snacks and got to eat a few meals along the way. However, Henry had a very hard time keeping it down. The air was _so much more stable_. It was nice and windy, and it didn’t jolt or constantly sway or hop off large waves. The icy sea spray misted and turned into little ice crystals behind them. Thankfully, the temperature rose the further south they went. It took a few days, but they _finally_ found a small port on the beach.

Henry hadn’t touched his backpack or treasure bag through the trip but did keep them safe under the small bed-like thing attached to the wall. There was room for five people in total, so Icepick and Snowcap stayed in their own beds. When they finally got to shore, Icepick and Snowcap followed him onto the docks but went no further. Instead, Henry met--

“Henry!” Thomas greeted, kneeling so that he was at Henry’s height. Henry immediately ran up to meet him. “I was--we were so worried you were taken. They wouldn’t have hurt you, everyone knew that. But none of us expected… well, Howie was very fervent in saying that you would come back. In hindsight, it makes sense. You running from the Wall and before that, escaping your orphanage. Sorry, I’m rambling. How are you?”

Henry sighed and signed, “ _I’m okay. Ice-pick and Snow-cap helped me back home._ ”

“Ah! Yes, thank you very much!” Thomas looked up at the two northern Toppats.

Snowcap smiled. “He’s a nice kid. Have a safe trip and, uh, tell the chief we had no problems whatsoever! We just took a few days because that’s just how fast our boat was.”

Someone behind Thomas said, “Of course.”

Henry leaned a little to the side and looked up at Wallace Pemberton. _Oh. Why was_ he _asked to…?_

Wallace turned his attention back to Henry. “Good to see you safe and sound! Come on, _Chief_ Reginald is going to be ecstatic to see you. Chief Reginald. Can you believe that, Thomas? Good thing Terrence bit the fucking dust back there.”

Thomas stood up straight. “Mr. Pemberton!”

“Okay, fine, he got arrested. May as well have been. He’ll die in prison if we’re lucky.”

Icepick and Snowcap looked at each other and then, after an awkward goodbye, speed-walked back to their boat.

Thomas sighed. “Wallace, you can’t talk about the former chief like that. I know how… fervent you were before, and admittedly I’m not too broken up about it myself, but it’s still wildly inappropriate.”

Wallace rolled his eyes. “What’s he gonna do? Fire me? Anyway, we should get going.”

Thomas cleared his throat. “Right, yes. Come on, Henry. We should be back to your father within the day!”

Henry perked up and followed them back to their car. It wasn’t a jeep, but it was more thickly built than the powder blue van Charles’ parents drove or the red sportscar Reginald and Red had. Or was it Right Hand Man? Did he change his name?

“So, Henry,” said Thomas once they were moving, turning around in the passenger seat. “How was it? What’s in the bag?”

“ _Supplies,_ ” Henry answered. He unzipped the bag to show off the cans and water bottles.

“Ahh, right. That’s from the safe room? Smart kid!”

Henry smiled at this.

“So, what happened? It’s been a very stressful few days.”

Henry started at the saferoom when Thomas dropped him off. How he’d waited all day and night and into the next morning before making his escape and finding the airship overrun by government. After that, he was able to make his way to Alaska and he was in the clear.

Henry finished off his story with a question. “ _Are we going to go back to the airship?_ ”

Thomas hummed, eyebrows furrowed. “Well… maybe. Most of us really loved the airship. Admittedly, being on the ground for so long is… odd. So, we’re either going to liberate the airship or build another. Chief Terrence is going to go down in history alright.”

Wallace let out a hiss. “If I see that traitor’s weasel face again, I’ll shoot him in the stomach and let him bleed out.”

Thomas turned back to him. His voice suddenly became quite quiet and meek. “Wallace? Did you do it?”

“Huh?”

“Get him arrested?”

“He did that to himself.”

“He could have made it out of there, even if it meant leaving everyone behind.”

Wallace did not answer for a long time. Finally, he said, “Yeah. Sort of. I saw… someone trip him up. I just helped him along with a shot to the foot. He couldn’t get up after that.” He puffed. “Tried pretty hard, though. Kinda… kinda a bad image if I’m honest.” He took a deep breath and went on in a more cheerful tone, “But it’s finally over and Chief Reginald stepped up. I have a feeling the Clan is going to be _wonderful_ with him in charge.”

Thomas forced a small smile. “Yeah. Yeah, it will be.”

Henry looked outside. Despite the beach behind them, the ground was dry and the sky almost clear. The airship was gone. Henry had been abandoned. Again. He knew what would happen once he got back to the airship.

 _“Henry! You’re alive!”_ Regin--Chief Reginald would say, surprised. He would be surprised because he didn’t go back for Henry. He left him there to be found or to wither away in a saferoom on his own until either the government found him or he died or _maybe_ a Toppat came back. But why waste the resources if Henry was gone, right? Just like that Wall guard. No use in chasing Henry if he was going to the Wall, right? No use in trying.

Henry smiled a little, though there was no humor in it. Now that he was a truly great escape artist--Thomas had called him that and the name stuck--they wouldn’t bother if something happened. They wouldn’t need to, because Henry would get himself out. He escaped Mrs. Bloodworth and ended up living on the street fighting for every meal. He got kidnapped by the Wall prisoner and nearly froze to death in Canada. They abandoned him in the airship flooded with government people to be taken to some institution.

…

They stopped at a gas station a few hours later. They were in a small town. Was this New Mexico? They had passed a sign welcoming them about an hour ago. He’d escaped from the orphanage, the Wall, the overrun airship… he’d learned all kinds of lockpicking and pickpocketing skills, even learned a lot about reading people and lying from Howie. Maybe he didn’t need the Toppats anymore.

Henry watched as the two left--Wallace was going to get gas while Thomas went out for snacks--and then looked to the city. It wouldn’t be hard at all to just… get out of the car and catch a bus. Henry set his hand on the door handle. He felt a little bad--he liked Thomas and Chief Reginald would tear him apart--but he had been so much safer on his own. Especially now that he wasn’t in Red Mesa.

 _Click_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Independence is such a funny thing.
> 
> Anyhow, with his past trauma at the orphanage and motivation of "I'm not safe here anymore" Henry's going to strike it out on his own like a cool kid! ...y'know, maybe he'll just wander around for a bit before getting found by a nice government couple who already have a kid. This got real dark real quick, sorry about that. :P ~~_Why does this keep happening?_~~
> 
> Anyway, part 2 of the one-shot, two-shot. Thomas is such a nice bean. <3 He's pretty much the only reason (Right next to RHM and Geoffrey) that makes me consider liking the Toppats. Because, as you know, the Toppat Clan is literally a clan of criminals. But Thomas and Geoffrey are awesome and RHM is amazing so.
> 
> Anywho, hope y'all find this year to be more lovely than the last. :,) _On a side note, he's meeting the Clan one way or the other later._

**Author's Note:**

> Cute little two-shot; will update Sunday 1/10/2021 and Tuesday 1/12/2021.
> 
> Also, if anyone would like to (or knows anyone who would like to) beta read an overly complex fanfiction, I would most certainly appreciate the help. :3 It'll be done definitely not soon, but eventually. But having a second pair of eyes would be a great help.


End file.
